SUPPLY CHAIN ARTICLES

  • Cultivating A Thriving mRNA Ecosystem: Key Initiatives & Future Directions

    Overall, I felt that the following initiatives/talking points were demonstrative of the types of creativity and symbiosis that we will need much more of in the near and long-term to foster a healthy and fruitful RNA ecosystem. 

  • Beyond The Gold Standard(s): Modernizing Oligonucleotide Synthesis

    A few weeks ago, I had the chance to sit down with OPT Congress speaker Phil Baran, Richard Lerner Chair Professor, Department of Chemistry, Scripps Research. Baran was slated to (and did) present a keynote on the innovations shaping the next generation of oligo synthesis. Here, I share the biggest takeaways I had from our conversation, touching on how he sees the science of oligo chemistry and manufacturing advancing in the near and far future. 

  • ARW's ATMP Manufacturing Must-Reads (ST. PATRICK'S DAY EDITION!)

    Day-in and day-out, I write, read, listen to, and watch as much content as I can about CGT and RNA therapy manufacturing, in particular, and/or other ATMP industry-related topics that you should at least be aware of in the manufacturing facility. Once a month, I compile the articles and industry updates I think are most worthy of your time into an unconventional roundup article.

  • A "Hot Take" on Personalized mRNA Medicines

    mRNA’s small-scale and cell-free production are often-touted benefits in the personalized medicines sphere. But as I reviewed my notes from the BioPhorum ATMP member event, I found myself coming face to face with a difficult truth.

  • Inside Alnylam's Playbook For High Volume siRNA Production

    As one of the first companies to establish a chemoenzymatic ligation platform, Alnylam's Maines and Nechev are in the perfect position to espouse wisdom on the practical aspects and remaining challenges of implementing enzymatic ligation at a large scale. Here in this installment, Maines and Nechev outline what they’ve learned thus far about the science of enzymatic ligation, while also paying credence to the unknowns and existing barriers that, as a frontrunner, Alnylam will inevitably (but willingly) be tasked with facing in the future.

  • Picasso, Pick-Up Lines, & Personalized Medicine: mRNA's Path Forward

    Overall, my presentation on what the mRNA industry can learn from the artist Picasso singled out a few specific areas from which I felt our industry could garner greater inspiration and operational prowess. But given how “collaborative” many of these sources of inspiration are, I’ve introduced each of my takeaways with a surprisingly relevant (albeit bad) art-themed pick-up line. After all, if there’s one sector that knows it takes more than one to “tango,” it’s the mRNA industry.

SUPPLY CHAIN VIDEOS

We all know that plasmid quality is foundational in dictating the quality of the final mRNA drug substance. In this clip homing in on upstream process considerations, speakers Stu Sundseth (Tune Therapeutics), Marc Wolfgang (Sail Biomedicines), and Christian Dohmen (Ethris) outline some of the most important CQAs for plasmids and the impact they can have on the resulting quality of the mRNA drug substance for linear mRNA. 

Tune in as Roberta Duncan, VP of the mRNA program at Seqirus; Duke Human Vaccine Institute Associate Director of Upstream and Downstream Process Development Jason Dickens, Ph.D.; and Jin Zhou, Executive Director of Process Development for mRNA and Protein Biologics at Ultragenyx share supply chain and manufacturing capacity constraints in the face of the urgency to address COVID-19. This is an excerpt from the Bioprocess Online Live event - mRNA Manufacturing: Bright Future, Big Challenges.

As our molecules grow more complicated, so, too, does the supply chain. Here, Advancing RNA Live speakers Khaled Yamout & Camp4’s Satya Kuchimanchi talk through how this growth challenges our understanding of raw material quality and how sponsors can better assess their suppliers.

Learn how single-use technologies deliver important benefits for mRNA manufacturing, including increased speed, quality, flexibility, and adaptability to different dosages and scale-up strategies.

ARTICLES, APP NOTES, CASE STUDIES, & WHITE PAPERS